Blog Archives

Creative tensions Few things are more mystifying than other people’s fascinations. Stamp collecting, astrology or devoted re-enactment of famous battle scenes appear, to the non-enthusiast, at best inexplicable, at worst embarrassing, silly and – to misapply a line from Monty…

Going online Now in its 18th year, New Zealand Books is coming of age. Starting with this issue, you’ll be able to read us online as well as in print. Thanks to the foresight of our publisher Peppercorn Press and the generosity of…

Going online Now in its 18th year, New Zealand Books is coming of age. Starting with this issue, you’ll be able to read us online as well as in print. Thanks to the foresight of our publisher Peppercorn Press and…

Hares and tortoises Readers, reviewers and authors may have noticed (and perhaps even grumbled) that NZB reviews tend to run rather later in the life of a book than those broadcast, or appearing elsewhere. Newspapers, magazines and radio usually feature…

Fruit and veg Who’d be a judge? Particularly a literary judge. As Kevin Ireland once observed, when you’re a judge, the only ones who love you are the winners. Which, taken to the other extreme, can mean former mates crossing…

The haunting Street banners calling for donations to the annual City Mission book sale had us each confidently scanning our shelves for give-aways, applying a literary version of that wardrobe rule – haven’t worn it for at least two seasons?…

A modest makeover With this, its 77th issue, New Zealand Books reverts to a quarterly, and one with a new look: notably, a striking front cover, a fresh typeface and an elegant new page design. It is, of course, common…

The importance of being earnest Palmerston North writer Craig Harrison once glumly observed in an interview with one of us that, although the trend might be apparent only to someone who had read all 140 entries in Palmerston North’s Evening…

Love and theft At first glance, what does and doesn’t constitute literary plagiarism looks pretty straightforward. Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh certainly thought so. They tried to prove in a London court that Dan Brown took “at least 15 core…

Guest editorial Against complacency When I arrived in New Zealand 28 years ago I confessed to an eminent seismologist that, although an avid reader, I knew little about New Zealand writing. Fortunately for me he was a Renaissance man with…